


there comes the last spring now

by oogenesis



Category: Rockman Zero | Mega Man Zero, Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bittersweet, M/M, Old Fic, see author's note for context
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:34:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oogenesis/pseuds/oogenesis
Summary: X and Zero were very old.
Relationships: X/Zero (Rockman)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 27





	there comes the last spring now

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is a few years old. i initially wrote it as part of a larger fix-it au i had in mind where nothing goes wrong in mmz - well, the elf wars still happened, but x and zero both made it out alive and are ruling together over a peaceful neo arcadia. and, married. however i never ended up actually finishing anything for that au outside of this one fic so i guess i will post it without context! i forgot it existed until a song i was listening to reminded me
> 
> be warned that this fic deals with death as something natural, timely, and perhaps even welcome, though not out of suicidal ideation. this might be triggering to some readers, proceed with caution

Reploid aging wasn’t the same as with humans, of course—with bodies that could be continually upgraded and even wholesale replaced, it happened on a much, much slower timeframe. It wasn’t, strictly speaking, _supposed_ to happen. But all things wear down and age, and X and Zero who had been alive for centuries were unmistakably old. They moved through life more slowly, more quietly, the path of years stretching out behind them; the end was in sight.

X was busy with finding a successor, or successors, or a system that could take the place of the years that had gone into building his wisdom, to make sure Neo Arcadia would be in safe hands when he was no longer there to head it. Or, he had been busy, rather—the process was drawing to a close, the meetings to check and double-check beginning to finish with their checking and double-checking.

And then, one afternoon, X came back into their room stretching his arms and announcing, “I think that’s it.”

Zero was cleaning his weapons; not that he used them anymore. It was a matter of habit, some measure of a long and ancient past clinging like soft dust. “That’s it?”

“Seems like it.” X cast a thoughtful eye at the sky outside. “I’m about ready now, are you?”

“Whenever you are.”

“We’d better wait a while, in case problems arise and they need us.”

Problems didn’t arise. And one morning it was time, and X and Zero got up, quietly made arrangements with the people who would know what to do, and left Neo Arcadia through a back way.

The sun was on the very beginning of its path, the air fresh and light around them. The landscape was an in-between of green coming up from desert, the intermediary of a slow return of life to a once-devastated world; a place of growth. They wandered hand in hand, looking for the right place, leaving a trail of footprints in what remained of the sand. The paradise of Neo Arcadia, surely in good hands now, rose up glittering behind them; the bustle and noise of it silent with distance and trivial next to the softness of the breeze.

X pointed and said, “That looks like a good place, don’t you think?”

It was a bower; a gentle roof of saplings bending over each other, brushing and tangling the greenness of their leaves together, flowery vines in a delicate filigree around their slender trunks. A small green space dotted with wildflowers in white and pink, like stars among the leaves. The shadows of the branches cast the faintest of dappled patterns on the ground.

Zero said, “I think so.”

They lay down underneath it, side by side, and made themselves comfortable. Time passed by; the sun rose in a gentle arc; they remained silent and still, holding hands, not speaking, speaking volumes.

X said sleepily, “It shouldn’t be long now.”

Zero knew it wouldn’t be. He felt more quiet and slow and peaceful than he had in a long time.

He said, “They’ll put a monument up around here, I’d imagine.”

“Definitely,” agreed X with a smile. “A plaque in front of our rusting bodies.” He squeezed Zero’s hand. “I hope flowers grow over us.”

It was a nice thought. “I hope so too.”

A while more of silence, and then X said thoughtfully, “Do you think we’ll go anywhere?”

It was a conversation they’d had many times, and Zero took up the familiar thread of it. “I’m not sure if we can.”

“If humans can,” said X, and from the corner of his eye Zero could see him smiling, “then we can too. I’m sure of it.”

“And what if humans don’t go anywhere?”

“We’ll find out, won’t we?”

X’s hand was warm in Zero’s. They would be finding out very soon.

More time passed. The sun was high overhead now, the air light with the sound of the breeze and the faint twittering of birds. The leaves that formed the roof of the bower moved gently overhead, the light through them shifting as though seen from underwater. Zero felt very sleepy and warm and content.

After some time, without knowing what prompted him, he turned his head. X beside him was lying with his eyes closed, his face relaxed, lips just slightly parted as they often were in sleep. His hand was already growing cool in Zero’s, and Zero knew that for the first time in centuries, for the first time in as long as he could remember, he was truly alone.

It could have been a frightening thought - as it was he felt a dizziness of something profoundly missing swoop in him like the arc of a hawk overhead - but not nearly as much as it could have been, or would have been before. After all, it was only a temporary state of affairs.

A nearby movement caught his sleepy eyes; the neat motion of a bird coming in to perch on one of the branches, ruffling its wings into place and cocking its head at him with quick and inquisitive moments. It twittered a little in confusion at the two mechanical bodies lying below, so foreign to this place, then turned its head and began picking at the beginning of berries on the branch.

That was a good thing to look at, thought Zero. There was a lot of beauty in this world. They’d be leaving it in good shape.

“Wait up for me, X,” he said to the gently stirring air, and squeezed X’s hand, and closed his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> okay that's all leave a comment if you liked it thankssss


End file.
